Medway man pleads guilty to federal gun charges

BANGOR, Maine — A Medway man facing a 10-year sentence in state court on charges stemming from a high-speed chase in January, after a University of Maine hockey game had ended, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a stolen firearm.

In September, Lauren MacArthur, 28, pleaded guilty at the Penobscot Judicial Center to two counts of assault on a police officer, reckless conduct, refusal to submit to arrest, criminal speeding, violation of a condition of release and operating after suspension.

The most serious state charge of aggravated attempted murder was dropped in MacArthur’s plea agreement with Alice Clifford, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, according to a previously published report. She said in September that the plea agreement calls for MacArthur to be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

On the federal charges, MacArthur faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and up to life in prison due to his extensive criminal history.
MacArthur has been convicted of 15 felonies in state court, according to documents filed in federal court in Bangor.

MacArthur’s sentencing dates have not been set. He will serve the state and federal sentences concurrently, according to a previously published report.

He has been held without bail since his arrest.

The charges all stem from a series of incidents on Jan. 20 that included a 15-mile, high-speed car chase that started after MacArthur allegedly tried to run down an Orono police sergeant who was directing traffic after a University of Maine hockey game in Orono, police said in January. MacArthur drove into Milford and French Island before being rammed off the road by a police cruiser on Route 178.

MacArthur fled on foot but was tackled and arrested, according to court documents.

Later that night, a resident found a rifle in a snowbank 162 feet from where MacArthur’s car was finally stopped. Another rifle was found a few days later on a riverbank that was below the spot where MacArthur’s car had swerved during the chase. The rifles were traced to a home in Medway that was burglarized Jan. 20 and 22.